Materials and resources

Changelog:
25/3 added Precious Metals. Added Gemstones.
28/3 Added Other stones/ores.
04/4 Added a note. Added Leathers and Hides.

Materials and resources divide themselves in a few sections. You mostly have metals/gems, wood and ingredients (for alchemy, or cooking). While most of them are spread out into the world, some of them may be typical of some specific areas.
Metals, gems and wood types are usually classed by ease of retrieval, quality and use. Ingredients are usually classed by effect or use, sometimes by location.
Since this is just a list of materials, which I suggest you read if you want to start RPing (especially if you’re into professions) I’ll try to make it as light as possible to not bore you to death.
[NOTE: This information isn’t 100% scientifically correct. I do know ores are not just “copper ore” or “iron ore”, but for simplicity’s sake let’s keep it at that. I may make some rare exceptions.]
[NOTE: I perfectly know the descriptions for metals, gems and stones will be larger than others, but it’s because there are so many variations of wood or leathers, and I am not all that knowledgeable in all of them.]

Metals

~ Copper is a low quality metal. Its main use is fine wiring (tripwires), for coins and for bronze. It can be used, but is ineffective, for weapons and armour. It is a very common metal. It is found as copper ore in nature.

~ Tin is a low quality metal. It doesn’t have many uses except for bronze. It is almost as common as copper. It is found as tin ore in nature.

~ Bronze is a low quality metal. Because of Iron being more common and easier to make when it comes to war equipment, it is mostly used in house items (pots, cutlery) and fine wiring. It may be used for weapons and armours. It is a very common metal and is often traded (it may be used as currency under the form of coins, but copper is often preferred as a low level currency). It cannot be found in nature as it is an alloy of copper and tin.

~ Iron is a standard quality metal. It is one of the most widespread metals (alongside steel). It is mainly used for tools and utility items ranging from crafting items (hammers, wood axes, shovels...) to nails, clips, et cetera. It is also widely used for weapons and armour – your average soldier will have iron equipment. Iron armour and weapons is more common in private regiments and as a personal armour amongst lower wealth people, however. Iron is, additionally, used in some siege such as rams. It may be used for cutlery and some household items. It is extremely common and is always a good, worthy find while mining. It is found in nature as iron ore.

~ Cardium is about as good as iron when it comes to efficiency and strength in weapons and armour; however it has a strong magical “affinity”, a special yet not unique property. As such, cardium items provide higher magical protection and may even be magically enchanted more readily. Cardium is a common choice amongst battle-mages and some shield men. It is very often used in lower quality magical trinkets and items. Despite this property, it is treated as a standard quality metal due to its relatively limited uses and because it is harder to find than iron. It is an averagely common metal. It is found in nature as cardite. Both as an ore and a metal, cardium has a shiny green-blue tint, which may be mistaken as rusted bronze.

~ Steel is a good quality metal. It is widely used for armour and weapons, and most faction armies will be fully clad in steel. Most personal or city guards, and even some elite guards, will wear steel. A steel set is also common in private households of average to wealthy families. Steel is often used as cutlery as a replacement to bronze, iron or ceramic. Steel may also be used for ring settings, necklaces and trinkets, but for magical items cardium is used more often. Steel is also employed in superior tools, but while steel hammers may be common steel nails will be extremely rare – iron is more widespread in the tools industry. Steel is very common (about as much as iron) and is arguably the most traded metal. It is an alloy made of iron refined with coal and is therefore not found in nature.

~ Mithril is the first high quality metal. It covers similar areas to steel, being mostly used in high quality armour and weapons. Mithril provides high explosive resistance and may be used as reinforcement to shields, siege engines or even walls. While mithril is quite common, it has the main problem of being a hard metal to craft compared to steel or even iron, hence why mithril shields are common – simple shapes. It is found in nature as mithril ore. Mithril has a strong, quite blue matte colour as an ore. When refined and smelted, it becomes quite reflective and darker.

~ Jerium is a high quality metal. It is often called “good cardium” because it has extremely similar properties to cardium, but enhanced. It is between steel and mithril in strength, but has a strong magical affinity. Jerium has a strong elemental resistance (fire, ice/water, lightning and its hybrids) and is one of the hardest metals to melt and work, hence why most Jerium items are either magically crafted or found in/as artifacts. Jerium is used in some luxury items and magical trinkets, but due to its near impossibility to work it is used almost exclusively by mages and powerful entities. While jerium weapons are almost impossible to craft, the few existing and enchanted one are amongst the most powerful. Jerium is not very common. It is found as jerium ore in nature. Jerite is one of the ores with the highest amount of precious stones as well. Jerium ore is red-orange, and very easy to recognise, but when refined it turns into a shiny purple, which is often associated with magic and the Gods.

~ Vhornite is a high quality metal. It is the most prized non-precious metal. Even though vhornite armour is just a bit stronger than mithril, it is almost half its weight (for the same volume). Vhornite is every blacksmith’s dream – it is relatively easy to refine and it is very easy to work as long as it is kept at a high temperature. When turned into a metal and shaped, however, it is extremely hard to melt again, so very few blacksmiths dare to work vhornite – a single mistake with the rare metal could cost them a lot. Vhornite is very often found in high quality war equipment, and in lower level artifacts (Yes, vhornite is LOW LEVEL compared to the level of unique artifacts and relics, especially the ones given by the Gods). Possessing vhornite ore is usually a symbol of wealth and power and some rare, sadistic people smelted vhornite to create ingots or useless items with them. Current techniques to melt vhornite metal again include half a dozen highly-powered pyromancers or fire elementals or some powerful magic-powered furnaces, and despite such horrible treatment the metal still fully retains its strength when reworked.
Precious metals are considered far more valuable than normal metals. They also tend to have nicer looks/colours and they are usually ductile and malleable, which means they can be turned in thin strips and shaped very easily, respectively. Precious metals are often used as currency. NOTE: The value and rarity description for a metal is relative to precious metals, not overall.

~ Silver is a low value metal. Its widest use is coinage, but it may be used in jewellery (rings/pendants). Silver is very often used in higher-quality cutlery and decoration items such as urns, jugs, chalices...It is rarely used in armour or weapon decoration. Silver can be obtained, quite commonly, as an ore.

~ Gold is like silver, but better, more malleable and very ductile. It’s classed as a medium value metal. It is widely turned into coins, but also used (more commonly than silver) in jewellery. Many crowns and royal items are made, at least in part, out of gold. It is often used as a decoration element in armour, weapons, masks (many other item types I won’t mention here) and as golden thread in clothes or tapestry. Gold is easy to re-melt, so it is usually kept as ingots, and possessing gold ingots is usually a proof of how wealthy somebody is. Gold is almost as common as silver and is quite easy to identify in mines.

~ Mazium is a high quality metal. According to how many times it is cooled and heated again, it may change from a dark blue to an azure colour. Mazium is used in coinage, and at brighter shades when so. The darker shades are usually employed in decoration purposes, but not very often. Mazium is extremely ductile, and thin mazium thread may be found occasionally, especially in clothes. Mazium is a little bit more rare than gold.

~ Platinum is a high quality metal. It is not turned into coins or bars, and most platinum is used in jewellery and decoration, as a more expensive replacement to silver. It is rarely used as a replacement to silver in cutlery and similar stuff, too, though even the richest families tend to stick to silver. Platinum is sometimes used in alchemy stands or sets as a catalytic surface due to its high reactivity. Platinum is, however, very rare.

Gemstones are multifunctional. Some of them only have good looks and are purely decorative, used in jewellery or for trading, while others have strong and unique magical properties.

~ Rubies, or fire stones, are red gems and have a strong affinity for elemental magic – this means elemental enchantments and infusions will be particularly effective on rubies.

~ Emeralds, or life stones, are green gems and have a strong affinity for raw magic, magical aspects that aren’t divine or connected to an element.

~ Sapphires, or deep stones, are blue gems and have a strong affinity for divine magic as a whole, such as life or death, light or shadow, et cetera.

Rubies, emeralds and sapphires are about at the same level of rarity, which is relatively rare. They can usually be found in normal metal ores and rarely in precious metal ores.

~ Diamonds are white/transparent gems and have the combined properties of rubies, emeralds and sapphires. This is compensated by them being much rarer, as diamonds can only be found in some precious metal ores, and in small sizes or small quantities. Also, diamonds are often used in crowns and jewellery.

~ Kardite is a unique type of crystal. Refined or purified kardite is often referred to as a power crystal, which has no magical property except for the capability to contain magical power/energy. They are, effectively, batteries for magic. They can be used by a mage to regenerate their magical power, or to transfer energy to an enchantment or rune, or to fuel some magical spells or processes. Normal kardite gems are consumed in the process. Kardite is easy to find, as it is opaque white with bright yellow shades and hues. It is almost always found near or in magical metal ores, and is relatively common.
+ Kardite can be strengthened with cardium to increase its strength. Cardium crystals can withstand several magic transfers (usually around 10) before eventually becoming unusable – and even at this stage they can be “recycled” through a purification and melting process.
+ Kardite can be strengthened with jerium to increase its maximum “containment” capability. Jerium crystals have a higher capacity per volume ratio of up to three times. It also gains some strength and can usually be reused three to five times.
+ Kardite and obsidian, a type of black rock, have a very similar structure. If melted and refined together, as a shard or slab, the obsidian will prevent the kardite from deteriorating when a magical transfer happens. As such, black power crystals are “infinite” and will never be destroyed after use. They are however heavier and far harder to make than other types of kardite. The only way to make proper black kardite is with a magic forge by assembly. Black kardite can be made with inferior methods as well, such as spellsmithing, but the results are usually nowhere as good as with assembly.

Other stones/ores

~ Coal is an extremely common ore, found virtually anywhere. It is often used in furnaces and in heating where wood isn’t good enough. Coal is also fundamental in the process to refine steel. Despite it being found very easily, it is often found in trade markets to places that don’t have an access to mines or mountains. It is known that burning coal produces soot, which can damage lungs or dirty nearby buildings, especially clear ones.

~ Infernal coal is a rare type of coal found at very low depths. It works the same as coal, but is considered as almost infinite – it burns for an extremely long amount of time. In fact, some pieces are known to have outlasted their owners. It also has far lower soot emissions, and may be used in special torches. Its most common use is furnaces and some magic forges. It is rarely used in powerful fire enchantments or artifacts, in very low quantities.

~ Marble is considered a luxury building material. It is quite tough as well, slightly better than stone, but quite a bit more precious than it. Marble is mostly used for statues, busts, some public works and sometimes entire buildings (such as temples). It is only found near surface level or on mountains, usually in enormous quantities.

~ Obsidian may be found at very low depths or near/at volcanoes. Similar to marble, but black/dark instead of white, it is an extremely tough material, but also quite rare to find. It may be created artificially with magical processes, but usually slowly and only in low quantities. Because it is a very dense material, it is rarely used to build weapons or armours, but it may be used to reinforce or even decorate them. It is more common in artifacts. Obsidian is also one of the hardest materials to carve and sculpt, and even harder to melt and work into a shape.

Leathers and hides

Leather is simply treated hides. While some hides are used like that, for decorative or warming purposes, most of them are treated. There are so many different types of leathers, each of them with their own special use. While I could list all of them right here and now, I’m going to list categories and overall quality or type differences. Examples will be included.

~ Common leather is... Do I really need to say it? Oh well, I will. It’s the most commonly used type of leather, usually for accessories (some sacks, tool belts, straps, horse seats...), some cloaks and leather clothes. Examples of common leather include cow leather and deer leather, and they’re very common. Most of the times, there are pastures or fields where the animals for this type of leather can be found.
The hides, in this case, are almost never untreated unless they serve as trophy or decoration.

~ Luxury hides are usually better-looking or more hairy, and are rarely treated. Examples are fox, rabbit, sabre and some wolf hides. These are commonly used for carpets, clothes or clothing accessories, trophies and decorations.

~ Tough hides come from some types of animals, such as snow wolves or frost sabres. Tough hides are typical of cold climate animals and larger beasts. While they’re very valuable as hides due to their good looks, they are often treated and used in leather armour. Due to their value, they are usually not used for accessories.

~ Scaly hides are particular. They may be used both treated and untreated, and it’s usually for armours. Untreated, the scales tend to be very protective, and some tough scales may be used in metal armour as well. It is, however, quite heavy and hard to fit. Some shields may also be made of scales, with a metallic base or reinforcements. Treated, it is stronger than tough leather and used for higher-grade leather armours or in conjunction with metal or cloth sets.